Oh Yes She Can!

Rosie the Riveter was happy to hang up her apron and exchange it for a lunchbox and work uniform, thrilled to finally be pitching in to help out during the war effort and lend a hand. Or was she? It seems we're always presented with this version of the fairy tale when we discuss women in the workplace, and women's accomplishments in the workplace as compared to those of men. But are women participating in the work force by choice?

George Cukor's 1949 film "Adam's Rib" envisions a world where women and men are equal, so long as they are of the same financial and educational background. The film was very ahead of its time given the era in which it was filmed.  Catherine Hepburn's character Amanda drives a car, is a successful lawyer who is coincidentally married to a lawyer, lives in a lovely city apartment and has a country home retreat in Connecticut where she likes to unwind with a game of tennis or two.  Conspicuously absent from this fairy tale are any children.

According to research done by Ruth Milkman a, women are entering the workforce and are essentially being relegated to tasks and jobs that force them to work long hours for less pay than their male counterparts.  As a matter of fact, on average, women are paid 23% less than men for the same jobs.

Paddy Quick offers a quick comparison on the myths and realities of Rosie the Riveter and all those Rosies that have followed in her foot steps in his 1975 "Rosie the Riverter: Myths and Realities."  The article paints a picture of women who drop their children off at daycares to be taken care of by complete strangers only to march off to their jobs where they work tirelessly for hours only to return home to pick up their children and continue to work a full day at home, cooking and cleaning and looking after their children.  Maybe women aren't all that happy in the workplace after all.